In ’47 the Monarchs picked up this shortstop in Davenport, Iowa. A young kid came out to take infield practice along with me. I saw greatness in this guy, and I was slowing up. This kid was Gene Baker, who went on to the Chicago Cubs. I was slowing down, and the next year I was traded to the Cleveland Buckeyes. But not before I had the pleasure and privilege of catching Satchel. Even after I got fat, I always could throw, and I was a pretty good hitter. So the manager said, “Well, look, you just can’t move anymore, so we’ll put you behind the plate.”
The amazing thing about Satchel was his control. Satchel would warm up before a ball game and put down a little piece of paper and throw over that paper. Then he’d have two guys stand up and put their bats down and throw between the bats on each side of the plate. We’d go out on the West Coast every fall to play and he packed them in.
In 1945 Satchel had taken a team to the West Coast and toured with Bob Feller. Bob Feller and Satchel always got along good. Bob was an ideal businessman. He knew how to make the money.
I tell you what, I’ll be honest with you: The colored barnstorming teams I have been on played against the cream of the crop of the big leaguers—and we weren’t the best of our league. The team Satchel Paige was supposed to get together in 1946, a lot of them left and went to Puerto Rico. If he had put that team together, Bob Feller and them would have caught hell. In fact, I never would have been able to go. They got me after a few of the others wiped out.
In 1946 I tell you who we played against. Bob Feller had at third base Kenny Keltner, shortstop Phil Rizzuto, second base Johnny Berardino, first base Mickey Vernon who won the batting championship, catching Frank Hayes and Rollie Hemsley. Outfield was King Kong Keller, Sam Chapman and Jeff Heath. Pitchers Spud Chandler, Gordon Maltzberger of the Chicago White Sox, Ed Lopat, knuckleballer Dutch Leonard and Feller. I guess we made between $5,000 and $6,000. Our cut was better than the Red Sox and Cardinals. That’s why the commissioner after that year wouldn’t let you barnstorm until the World Series was over. We had a plane and Feller had a plane. We played about eleven games; I believe they won six, we won five.
We beat them in Yankee Stadium. Let me tell you a story about that game. We were running short on pitchers, so when we got to Yankee Stadium we had an old left-hander, Neck Stanley, a spit-baller. When he’d take the ball up to his mouth he’d also cut it, make it do tricks. I was in the bull pen warming Stanley up. After Satchel pitched his three innings, Stanley came in to pitch the other six. He struck out, oh I guess five or six with that cut ball, and he made Feller’s team look so bad that we were going to play that night in Baltimore, and when we got ready to fly over to Baltimore, Feller said, “Not with that guy.” Wouldn’t let him go any farther. I mean Stanley humiliated them in Yankee Stadium!
But Bob Feller, what a curve ball this guy had, besides a motion. Oh, man, he’d blind you. He’d take that left foot and raise it up and twist that body around and man when he’d throw that ball —can you imagine him having that delivery when he first came up and he was wild? That’s a great gentleman, though, a great ballplayer.
How did I hit against Feller? Not too well, not too well. Two other guys I never could get a hit off of—one guy in Mexico threw nothing but fast balls with a little slider and kept the ball down all the time and I bet I grounded out twenty times without getting a hit. His name was Ramon Bragana. And Dutch Leonard—if anybody else had a knuckle ball in comparison with Dutch Leonard, I’d like to see it. I broke bats—he broke bats off in my hand and everything.
October 1947, here’s a clipping: Satchel pitched against players like Ferris Fain, Kenny Keltner, Andy Pafko, Ralph Kiner, Jeff Heath, Bob Feller. That’s a good lineup. Then Ewell Blackwell brought in a team. Remember Bob Dillinger, Peanuts Lowrey, Johnny Lindell, Al Zarilla and Johnny Berardino (who’s a movie and television star now) ? And we beat them 4–3. I played third in that ball game. Let’s see, I got one hit against Blackwell. And Satchel beat the major leaguers again in Los Angeles, 5–1: Pete Coscarart, Max West, and 6,000 fans.
We also made big money in Latin America. We monopolized the leagues down there until organized ball came along. They’d pay a guy $1,000 a month, all expenses, no income tax. A guy could go down there and save $3–4,000. Plus every home run was a gift. Oh man, before Castro you couldn’t beat Cuban baseball, couldn’t beat it. That was the best, the strongest league you ever want to see.
I was in Mexico from ’50 to ’51. Martin Dihigo was manager of Vera Cruz then.
I was Peck’s bad boy in Mexico. I played like Eddie Stanky, sliding hard, breaking up double plays, fighting umpires. That’s the only way you could exist. You had to fight. Especially in the Latin American countries. If you went down there and they found out you were a coward, that was all.
While Jorge Pasquel was in Africa, an umpire and I had a few words on a close call at first base and I slugged him. The President of the league suspended me, and the Immigration Department deported me. They kept me there all day, and when nighttime came they put me in a car and rode and rode and rode. I said, “Oh, oh, I guess this is it.” But they put me on a plane to San Antonio, Texas. But I returned, and the umpires said they didn’t want to umpire if I played. And this is what the Sporting News wrote: “Pasquel Back in Mexico, Unlimbers Six-shooter.” He fired the umpires. Then he called on high government officials and had the deportation order revoked. When the umpires refused to work, he fired them all.
My last year in baseball, 1951, I was playing in Minot, North Dakota, and I got a letter from Campanella asking me if I wanted to go barnstorming with him : “Would you like to go and help me catch?” “Gosh,” I said, “would I!” He had me come up to New York and we barnstormed against a major-league team. I was the only minor leaguer on the team. His team consisted of Bob’ Boyd on first, Junior Gilliam at second, I believe Larry Doby played third. Outfield was Bill Bruton. Joe Black and Don Newcombe pitched. We played all the big parks, made tremendous money. But this is when Campanella proved that he was a champ. He got $1,000 a man guarantee to go to Honolulu to play three games against an all-star team that had Nellie Fox at second, Harvey Kuenn at short and Enos Slaughter in right. He said, “I’m going to take this guy with me, and he’s going to get the same cut we get.” He made everybody on the team take enough money out of their cut to make me make the same. Yeah, Campanella’s a great guy, great guy. You can’t imagine how great he is, how much he’s respected among ballplayers. His going to the major leagues never changed his attitude.
After that I left baseball and came here to Atlanta and went into the postal service. Now I’m a sportscaster, sports director of WIGO, Atlanta. They call me “Chico Enriquo on Sports.”
And let me tell you this about the Atlanta Braves, the most wonderful thing. The Atlanta Braves are one of the only teams in the major leagues that have had old-timers’ games and let the players from the Negro leagues play.
Dick Young of the New York Daily News called me the other day [1970], said there was a plan to get all of us to go to New York to pick a black player for the Hall of Fame. He said they might pick two, but that would be the limit. There would be too much squawking if there were more than that. But there’s no way in the world you can leave out Martin Dihigo, Pop Lloyd, Oscar Charleston, José Mendez, Josh, Satchel, Buck Leonard and all that crowd.
I have six sons now, two boys in college—one boy pitching and one boy catching at Florida A&M—and I’ve got two in high school playing. I’m real proud of them all, don’t give me any disciplinary problems. Baseball has really been good to me. I’ve got no squawks. I can really say baseball’s the great American game, although it did discriminate against us for many years.
But when Robinson went into organized baseball it took something away from Negro baseball. It died with Robinson. Let me tell you, we played the World Series in ’46 against the Newark Eagles and we just had tremendous crowds everywhere we went. Washington, D.C., whenever the Monarchs went in to play the Homestead Grays, Satch
el pitching and Josh Gibson catching, just fantastic crowds.
The promoters made the money. But we made enough money to buy nice clothes and live good during the baseball season. We all had to go to work during the off-season, but we always looked forward to playing. Everything was major league. Oh, we traveled in buses, had to ride 400–500 miles, get out and play ball. But the Sunday doubleheaders were always something. We were always in a big park on Sundays—New York, Chicago, some big town in the South on Sundays. The East-West game we played in Chicago always had anywhere from 30,000 to 50,000. And everybody looked forward to it.
We had thrills, we had everything. It was the greatest experience of my life.
Sunset Before Dawn
BY DAVID MALARCHER
Thou wert among the best
Who wrought upon this earth,
O dead! Thine endless rest
Is merit of thy worth....
O, minds of fleetful thought!
O dead who lived too soon!
What pity thou wert brought
To twilight ere the noon!
But sleep thou on in peace,
As orchids which did bloom,
Like pure unspotted fleece
Within the forest’s gloom.
© David Malarcher 1975
APPENDIX
Lifetime Statistics
I want to thank Dick Clark, Paul Doherty, Jorge Figueredo, Merl Kleinknecht, and Jim Riley for their special help in compiling the statistics.
The following persons also contributed to the immense task:
Luis Alvelo, Terry Baxter, Dick Cramer, Debbie Crawford, Bob Gill, Bob Hoie, Jim Holway, John Holway Jr, Tim Joyce, Neil Lanctot, Larry Lester, Jerry Malloy, Joe McGillen, Joe Overfield, Bill Plott, Mona Peach, Mark Presswood, Rob Ruck, Mike Sampson, Arthur Schott, Michael Stahl, A. D. Suehsdorf, Gerald Vaughn, Diane Walker, Edie Williams, and Charles Zarelli.
BIG BILL DRAKE (PLUNK)
b 6/8/95 Sedalia MO, d 10/30/77 St Louis, BL TR 6’ 210
Dave MALARCHER GENTLEMEN DAVE
CRUSH CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS HOLLOWAY (CRUSH)
b 9/16/96 Hillsboro TX, d 6/72 Baltimore, BB TR, 6’ 180
WEBSTER McDONALD
b 1/1/00 Wilmington DE, d 6/12/82 Philadelphia, BR TR 6’ 189
NEWT ALLEN (COLT)
b, 5/19/01 Austen TX d 6/11/88 KC, BR TRUE 5’8” 160
JAMES BELL (COOL PAPA)
b 5/17/03 Starkville MS, d 3/7/91 St Louis, BB TL 6’ 165 Hall of Fame 1974
TED PAGE
B 4/22/03 Glasgow KY, D 12/1/84 Pittsburgh, BR TR 5’11 175
TED RADCLIFFE (DOUBLE DUTY)
b 7/7/02 Mobile AL, d 5/17/05 Chicago BR TR 5’10 190
PITCHING
WILLIE FOSTER BIG BILL
b 6/12/04 Calvert TX, d 9/16.78 Lorman MS BB TL 6’1 195 Hall of Fame 1996
LARRY BROWN
b 9/5/05 Pratt City AL, d 4/7/72 Memphis, BR TR, 5’8 190
WILLIE WELLS (THE DEVIL)
b 8/10/08 Austin Texas, d 1/22/89 Austin BR TR 5’9” 167 Hall of Fame 1997
WILLIAM CORNELIUS (SUG)
b. Atlanta 9/4/06 d Chicago 10/30/89 BR TR 5’10 168
WALTER LEONARD (BUCK)
b 9/8/07 Rocky Mount NICE d 11/27/97 Rocky Mount BL TL 5’11 185 Hall of Fame 1972
HILTON SMITH
b 2/27/12 Giddings TX d 11/18/83 Kansas City BR TR 5’11 185, Hall of Fame 2001
JAMES GREENE (JOE)
b 10/17/11 Stone Mountain GA d 7/19/89 Decatur GA BR TR 5’11 195
TOM BUTTS (PEE WEE)
b 8/17/19 Sparta GA d 1/73 Atlanta BR TR 5’7 145
OTHELLO RENFROE (CHICO)
b 3/1/23 Newark NJ d 9/3/91 Atlanta BR TR 5’11 175
INDEX
Aaron, Hank
Adams, Buck
Agee, Tommy
Alexander, Grover Cleveland
All Nations
Allen, A. G.
Allen, Johnny
Allen, Newt
American Expeditionary Forces League
Anson, Adrian “Cap”
Anthony, Father (ballplayer priest)
Appling, Luke
Apracicio, Luis
Arango (ballplayer)
Arlett, Buzz
Atlanta Black Crackers
Atlantic City Bacharachs
Austin Senators
Austin, Fred
Babich, Johnny
Baker, Gene
Baker, Home Run
Baltimore Black Sox
Baltimore Elite Giants
Baltimore Stars
Bankhead, Sammy
Banks, Ernie
Barnes, Jess
Barnes, Virgil
Barhill, Dave
Barr (umpire)
Barrett, D.
Barrow, Ed
Bass, Red
Baumgartner, Stan
Bayne, Bill
Bearden, Gene
Becker (coach)
Beckwith, John
Bejerano, Abernathy
Bell, Cool Papa
Bell, Fred
Bell, L. Q.
Bellinger, Charlie
Bench, Johnny
Benjamin, Jerry
Bennett, Sam
Benson, Gene
Benswanger, Bill
Berardino, Johnny
Berger, Walter
Berra, Yogi
Birmingham Black Barons
Bishop (ballplayer)
Black, Joe
Blackman, Henry
Blackwell, Ewell
Bodie, Ping
Bolden, Ed
Boley, Joe
Bonura, Zeke
Boudreau, Lou
Bowman (pitcher)
Boyd, Bill
Boyd, Bob
Bragana, Ramon
Branca, Ralph
Brewer, Chet
Bridges, Tommy
Briggs, Walter
Britt, George
Brock, Ed
Brock, Johnny
Brock, Lou
Brooklyn Royal Giants
Brooks, Irving
Brown, Barney
Brown, Bobby
Brown, Buster
Brown, Dave
Brown, Jim
Brown, Larry
Brown, Mace
Brown, Mordecai
Brown, Ray
Brown, Willard
Browning, Royal “Skink”
Bruton, Bill
Buffalo Giants
Bunning, Jim
Burke, Michael
Burnes, Bob
Burnett, Tex
Burt, Ping
Butts, Pee Wee
Cambria, Joe
Camnitz, Howie
Campanella, Roy
Canada, Jim
Cannady, Rev
Caplinger (pitcher)
Carresquel, A.
Carter, Paul
Case, George
Cepeda, Orlando
Cepeda, Perucho
Chacon, Pelayo
Chamberlain, Wilt
Chambers (pitcher)
Chandler, A. B. “Happy”
Chandler, Spud
Chapman, Ray
Chapman, Sam
Charleston, Oscar
Chicago American Giants
Chicago Cardinals
Chicago Leland Giants
Churchill (mayor, Bismarck, N.D.)
Clark, Eggie
Clark, Monty
Clarkson, Bus
Clemens, Verne
Clemente, Roberto
Clendenon, Donn
Coates, John
Cobb, Ty
Cochrane, Mickey
Cockrell, Phil
Coimbre, Francisco
Cole, Robert
Coley, Sam
Collins, Eddie
Combs, Jack
Cominsky, Charles
Cominsky, Grace
Cooper, Andy
Cooper, M.
Cooper, Walker
Cornelius
, William “Sug”
Coscarat, Peter
Covaleskie, Stan
Cramer, Doc
Crawford, Sam
Creacy, Dewey
Crowe, George
Crutchfield, Jimmy
Cuban Giants
Cuban X-Giants
Culley (ballplayer)
Cummings (pitcher)
Currie, Rube
Curry, Goose
Dandridge, Ray
Danning, Harry
Dauss (pitcher)
Davenport, Ducky
Davis, Babe
Davis, Duo
Davis, Johnny
Davis, Peanuts
Davis, Piper
Davis, Steel Arm
Davis, Willie
Day, Connie
Day, Leon
Dean, Jerome “Dizzy”
Dean, Paul
Demaree, Frank
DeMoss, Bingo
Derringer, Paul
Detroit Senators
Detroit Stars
Dickenson, Murray
Dickey, Bill
Dickey, Steel Arm
Didrikson, Babe
Dietz, Dick
Dihigo, Martin
Dillinger, Bob
DiMaggio, Joe
DiMaggio, Vince
Dismukes, Dizzy
Dixon, George
Dixon, Rap
Doby, Larry
Doherty, Paul
Donaldson, John
Donches, Joe
Downs, Bunny
Drake, Bill “Plunk”
Drebinger, John
Dreke, Valintin
Drew, Johnny
Dropo, Walt
Drysdale, Don
Duffy, Hugh
Dugan, Jumping Joe
Duncan, Frank
Dunlap, Johnny
Durham, Bull
Durocher, Leo